CHAPTER XI

THE NCHELLELAYS, OR WHITE ANTS

One of the white ants, or nchellelays, said one day to another nchellelay: “Strange indeed is our life. We are unlike the other ants, for they enjoy the light of day, and breathe the air that passes over the prairies and forests. They can ramble where they please in search of prey or food. We nchellelays live in darkness. Light is odious to us. The sun is our greatest enemy, and we have to protect ourselves from its rays, which kill us when they strike our bodies. If, perchance, by some catastrophe, our houses are damaged, and we are thrown out of them, we have not only the sun, but the rain as our foe. Creatures surround us on every side to pounce upon us and devour us, and many kinds of ants are also our enemies. Our life is safe only when we are shut up in our houses.”

An old and wise nchellelay, who had been listening, said: “Why do you complain of your existence? We are born with great gifts which other creatures do not possess, to suit our mode of life. To us, darkness is light, for we can see so much better in it. We erect buildings through which neither the sun nor the air, the light nor rain, nor our enemies can penetrate. We build during the night, so the sun cannot harm us. Just think how comfortable and cosey are our chambers!”

All the nchellelays were listening to what the wise and knowing one said, and when she had done speaking, they said: “You are right, wise one. We are born with certain great gifts, which no other creatures possess, to suit our mode of life, and protect ourselves from our enemies.”

These nchellelays that were talking belonged to the species that build only on the prairies that are surrounded by the great forest. Their structures, or houses, are of the shape of gigantic mushrooms. They vary in height from ten to eighteen inches, the tops or crown being from ten to eighteen inches, and the stem or round pillar supporting the crown about five inches, in diameter. As the colony grows larger, sometimes two or three crowns are built on the top of one another. Each house forms a colony.

From immemorial time, these nchellelays have built on the prairies, and as they increase and multiply in a wonderful manner, their structures cover the whole prairie, and can be counted by tens and tens of thousands, at short distances from one another. Strange indeed is the sight.

The colony inhabiting these gigantic mushroom-like structures is of three kinds of nchellelays unlike in shape and having different kinds of work to perform. The chiefs, few in number, are much larger in size than the others. Their heads are armed with powerful nippers.

The next class are smaller than the chiefs, have elongated bodies, and are armed also with strong nippers. These are the officers or overseers and fighters.

The third class are exceedingly numerous, and form by far the greatest population of each colony. They are shorter and smaller in size. Their heads are square, and their nippers are shorter than those of the other two kinds, and of a somewhat different shape. This class is born to work. They are the builders of the structures. Their life is one of labor. They have soft bulky bellies, of dark bluish or yellowish gray color, filled with the clay they feed upon.

The head and nipper-like jaws of the chiefs, officers, or overseers are very hard, and of dark color, contrasting with the color of their bodies. These pincers are given to them for fighting, wounding, piercing, catching their enemies, and also tracing lines where the work has to be done.

One day some mushroom nchellelays said: “We need a new house, and we will build one which will last for years, through which neither rain nor sun can come, and through which our enemies cannot enter. We are small, it is true, but among the gifts that we have are patience, perseverance, industry, and a good thinking brain. With these four gifts we can accomplish a good deal and succeed.”

There was great excitement among the nchellelays when they made ready to commence their work. The chiefs gave orders to the officers or overseers, and these gave orders to the workers. The dry season is the time the nchellelays choose for building. They know the time of the two seasons, the rainy and the dry, perfectly well.

The workers, having received their orders, began work in great earnest. They made deep perpendicular tunnels to reach the blue clay, and, when they had reached it, they made other tunnels upward,—all these under the place chosen for building their house in.

It was a remarkable sight when they began their labor. The workers followed one another in a continuous stream, and ejected a quantity of thick, soft, semi-liquid clay, which they had eaten and which had been transformed during the digestive process into a gluey material. Each load was put side by side with wonderful precision. After this, they followed one another and disappeared under the ground. The column of workers never ceased for an instant. There did not seem to be any lazy ones among them; no one was shirking work and lagging behind. They marched like a well-drilled army of workers who knew what their duty was. Their system showed great intelligence. No bricklayer among the most civilized human beings could have laid bricks side by side with more skill than they did their loads. The officers were looking on and watching how the work was done.

Once in a while some of the nchellelays brought grains of earth and deposited them in the mortar. The structure rose as if by enchantment, and at last the making of the crown was begun, numerous cells or rooms communicating with one another. A large cell, much larger than any of the others, was built for their queen.

Every tunnel and cell was coated with a gluey, shining matter, coming from the bodies of the workers, to prevent them from giving way. At the base of the column they had built inside a round clay ball, divided into three parts which could be separated, full of very small cells for eggs to be deposited in. This ball communicated with the rest of the buildings by tunnels through which the eggs might be transported to the various cells.

After the building was completed, the nchellelays said, “Now we must go and store in many of the cells little grains of earth to use in our mortar.” So they went to work, and brought loads of these and stored them in the cells which the officers had selected.

When everything was in order, a new arrangement was made. The officers were scattered over the buildings and kept watch over the cells. The large cell for their queen had an entrance at each end communicating with all the corridors in the house. A large body of officers kept watch and surrounded her.

In the course of time the queen did nothing but lay eggs, and an enormous number of them.

These eggs hatched from the heat, and then the little tiny nchellelays, which were of a milky white color, were taken to different cells by the big ones, and in the course of time became large themselves. When the colony became too large, the nchellelays said to one another: “Now we are living too many together. Our structure is too small, and we must build a new addition to our dwelling.” So the workers went down to the clay and built a short stem, as they had done before, and then made another mushroom-like cap. They also built many cells, and the surplus population took possession of these new ones.

But the colony kept increasing, and another mushroom-like structure was added, and built on the top of the second cap. At last a fourth one was needed and then the nchellelays said, “We cannot add to our structure, for it would be too high and become top heavy.”

While the mushroom nchellelays were enjoying quietly the comforts of the house they had built with so much care and skill, the following event took place.

Another kind of nchellelays, that were lazy and lived as much as they could on the labors of others, said to one another: “Let us make our abode in the structure of the mushroom nchellelay. We must be very cunning, for it is not an easy matter to build cells and tunnels in their house without being discovered; still we are accustomed to do this, and can succeed if we want to. But if we are found out, we shall have a hard time, for they are much stronger and more powerful than we are.”

These intruders were very small, mere pigmies in size compared with the mushroom nchellelay. They also had chiefs, officers or overseers, and workers. They went forthwith to work, and with their nippers dug into the thick walls of the mushroom nchellelays from the bottom, carrying away the débris of the material they demolished and depositing it in the earth. They took good care to make no mistake, and their small cells and tunnels were built between the original cells.

They were extremely intelligent, and could tell when they were getting dangerously near the tunnels or cells of their bigger neighbors. They succeeded at last in building their cells and corridors throughout the structure. These were coated with a black gluey matter, and consequently were different in color from those of their neighbors, which were yellow.

So two colonies of different nchellelays lived in the same buildings, the big ones not knowing that intruders were in their abode. These little dwarf nchellelays lived happy and contented, and often laughed at their big neighbors, saying, “They do not know that we have made our home in their house.”

One day the njokoos (elephants) happened to come into the country of the mushroom nchellelays, and several bulls getting into a fight among themselves, they demolished many of the buildings of the mushroom nchellelays, treading upon them with their big feet, often crushing a great part of their structures, and thus also killing many nchellelays, and wounding many others.

The nchellelays were very much excited, and those who had escaped with their lives and heard the crash, went into all the cells to tell of what had happened. None could tell the cause of the catastrophe, for such a thing had never happened to them before.

This was indeed a great and sudden misfortune. The officers made their appearance immediately at the opening of every cell or tunnel that had been damaged, put their heads out of the entrances to see what was the cause of this sudden smash, and then disappeared inside and reported to their chiefs.

Soon after, a large number of officers or overseers arrived at all the breaks. They cried, “Let us defend our homes,” their big nippers opening and closing all the time. They were ready to bite and to fight any intruder, not a nchellelay, that wanted to get inside of their dwelling, and at the least sign of danger they opened their nippers still wider, ready to bite.

Great, indeed, had been the havoc made by these njokoos. Dead and wounded were lying everywhere among the ruins. Among them were young nchellelays of a milky white color, and others quite tiny, having just come out of the eggs. Eggs, whole or smashed, were seen in every direction. It was a terrible sight to contemplate for the nchellelays. Everything was topsy-turvy.

Still the nchellelays recovered quickly from the sudden confusion into which they had been thrown, for they had cool heads. The work of rescue began first. Luckily it was a cloudy day and the dry season, when the sun is not powerful.

Orders were given, and the nchellelays went out to begin the work of rescue. They were seen everywhere among the débris, looking round for the dead and wounded. When they saw one, they immediately went toward him. If so dangerously wounded that they thought there was no hope for him, he was left on the ground to die. When they saw that there was hope of saving the life of one, they took the poor wounded one gently between their pincers and carried him tenderly inside, those who guarded the entrance making room for the rescuer to pass. The wounded that could, hopped or crept around, and were helped and led in.

The young were also carried in with the utmost tenderness and affection, for they were babies and helpless. Then, and last, the eggs that had not been injured were also carried in.

In the great catastrophe that had taken place, the big nchellelays and the pigmy ones were mingled together in the ruins. The pigmies had also many dead and wounded. Their presence was the first intimation that the big nchellelays had of them. Their rage knew no bounds at the sight. Officers and workers attacked the intruders with great fury. These, however, fought with the utmost bravery, for it was a fight for life with them, and many of the big ones bit the dust in the conflicts that took place.

The mode of warfare among the nchellelays is to disembowel one another by piercing their soft stomachs with their nippers. The belly is the vulnerable part of their body, and once pierced they are crippled, and die soon afterwards.

[Illustration: [Termites]]

Now the ruins were turned into a great battlefield. It was soon a scene of carnage. While many of the big nchellelays were transporting the wounded, the young, and the eggs inside the ruins of their buildings, many were busy seeking the pigmy nchellelays, the intruders within their house, to fight and kill them. Dead and wounded from the numerous combats lay everywhere. There were many thrilling fights and death-struggles. The attacks on both sides were fierce, and no one asked quarter. Combatants were seen fighting one another over the whole battlefield. Sometimes the fight occurred in a very rugged place where the ruins of the buildings lay around on the top of one another. One nchellelay was seen ascending the steep incline ready to charge the enemy at the top, who was waiting for his onslaught. In another place, one was descending with great fury to attack his enemy, who was coming up.

Elsewhere, one could see a worker or an officer of the larger kind attack his diminutive enemy, and succeed, after some sparring, in disembowelling him, when suddenly an officer of the pigmy kind, seeing one of his comrades in the fight, or in his death-throes, would attack the victorious one before he had time to turn round and get ready for the fight, and succeed in disembowelling him with his pincers, although the antagonist was at least two or three times his size.

It was a miniature fight of giants and pigmies, the latter fighting as bravely as the giants.

The time at last came when all the pigmy kind were overpowered and killed, one by one, and the battlefield was strewn with their dead, mingled here and there with those of the larger ants. When the battle was ended, and the young and the eggs had been carried inside of what remained of the building, the work of repairing all the rents that had been made by the destructive work of the njokoos began.

The officers made tracings with the points of their nippers at the apertures to show where the closing was to take place. Then the workers came and first carried away the débris that was in their way. Then they closed the walls in the manner in which they had at first built the structure, by putting loads upon loads of clay-like matter upon one another. Others came carrying minute pebbles or coarse grains of earth in their mouths, and during the night they finished rebuilding the structure just as it was before.